


Challenge #16: Doorknob

by UndeservingHero



Category: Naruto
Genre: Challenges, M/M, Smooching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-17
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-29 16:34:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeservingHero/pseuds/UndeservingHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I had run for so long. I didn't know what stopping felt like until I slammed into a wall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Challenge #16: Doorknob

**Author's Note:**

> Hero: This is part of a drabble series that never got finished so I thought I’d post them here as a collection. Enjoy.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

Running.  
Running.  
Stop.  
Pant.  
Hear someone behind me.  
Run further.  
Finally see a door.  
Run more.  
I remember before I started running. I remember the fights. I remember the laughter. I remember that smile. The smile haunted me. In wakefulness and sleep, his smile hovered around the edges of my vision. I would see it out of the corner of my eyes, only to turn and find him absent from my side. Every time, I would miss him more.   
I reach the door, but the knob won’t turn. I hear the sound of running feet pounding behind me. The nin had no need for stealth. I would have known his chakra from 1,000 miles away.   
He finally rounds the curve in the hallway, sliding to a halt, mere feet from me. The smile is gone. His eyes are hollow blue. Lifeless.  
I say his name. He shows no sign of recognition. I say it again. And again. Finally, the ice in his gaze thaws and the crystals drip down his scarred cheeks.   
He runs and me before I can move and slams me against the wall. His fingers, calloused and sun-kissed, dig into my shoulders as he crushes our mouths together. The harshness of the kiss mixed with the wetness on his cheeks seem at odds with one another, but there is something… innocent about the whole thing. His mouth is hard, unforgiving, as I know he will be when this is all over. I kiss him back to try and say how sorry I am. I want to go home but I know it won’t be easy. I don’t move other than to kiss the lips that once smiled at me with such unencumbered joy. I know it will only hurt me when he takes me back to the village to be prosecuted. I know that no one else really cares for me but him.  
He will have completed his mission. It will be over. Just like my life.  
Tears slide down my cheek, unbidden.  
I am startled by my body’s reaction. When had I started to care about my own life?  
I never had before.  
Why now?  
He tears his mouth from mine. When had I closed my eyes? I open them to look at why I had started to care. I care because of him. Because he came for me. He was still chasing me even after years of disappointment. His eyes are softer now. He is still beyond furious, but he is looking at me with a measure of compassion, the awful frigid ice gone from his eyes.  
He steps away from me and looks me up and down, as if checking me over. When he looks into my eyes, he draws back and cracks his fist over my cheekbone. Pain explodes out from the left side of my face. He didn’t hold back. I don’t fight back.   
He hadn’t really changed. I almost smile. He’s still the same, straight-forward knucklehead that I had left behind.  
Had it been worth it to leave?  
No.  
When I look into his eyes and see the suffering that he is going through, I know that I never should have left. I reach forward and bury my fingers in his soft hair, pulling him forward to press my mouth against his again. He pushes against me and I hold onto the doorknob to keep by balance.   
He pulls back to pant. “Sasuke, come home. With me.”  
In that moment, I know I want to go home. I want to see Kanoha again. I miss home. I miss him above all else. Slowly, I nod.  
As I do, I know that nothing will be the same as it was, but it will be better than it has been for years.   
He peels my fingers off of the handle and takes my hand in his, squeezing my fingers to the point before they break.  
He turns and drags me back the way we’ve run. Eventually, we find the light of day. I blink, blinded for a moment by the brightness that has so long escaped me.  
When I see him in the light, instead of the dimness of the underground, I know I’m going to be okay. I’m going home.


End file.
